Storioni Trio, Jan Willem de Vriend - Beethoven - Triple Concerto & Archduke Trio (2013) SACD

Recordings of Beethoven's Triple Concerto, Op. 56, by a piano trio rather than by a group of virtuosi (a configuration that almost always misunderstands the work) are not abundant. Still rarer are those like the present release by the Storioni Trio, a Dutch group that takes its name from the maker of the 1790s instrument played by the violinist (and strung, like the viola, with gut strings). Pianist Bart van de Roer plays an 1815 Lagasse fortepiano. This recording is part of a series devoted to Beethoven's piano trios, but the Triple Concerto actually is more comfortable in those surroundings than when forced to keep company with the likes of the Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61. The entire texture is lighter than in the big virtuoso concertos, and this performance is especially good at bringing out the work's playful nature, with the thematic material of the opening movement batted around among the soloists, and between soloists and orchestra, in unpredictable ways. One might wish for a bit more rhythm in the finale, marked Rondo alla polacca by Beethoven and perhaps, during that politically engaged phase of his life, intended as an expression of support for a small country overrun by the warring powers of Europe. In the Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 97 ("Archduke"), by contrast, the players deliver punchy rhythms that lose some of the warm lyricism of the music. The light textures of the instruments again, however, will reveal many new details even to listeners who think they know the music well. Challenge Classics, working in the Muziekcentrum Enschede for the Triple Concerto, delivers superb acoustic results; the trio recording, in the Haarlem Lutheran Church, is too spacious and distant, but the definition of the music-making remains clear.